Switzerland vs England. UEFA Nations League 3rd/4th Play-Off.
Estadio D. Alfonso HenriquesAttendance15,742.
England win 6-5 on penalties.
Watch Switzerland vs England live on Sky Sports Football from 1.30pm on Sunday; Kick-off is 2pm
Sunday 9 June 2019 14:09, UK
England's UEFA Nations League hopes were ended by the Netherlands on Thursday night, but they can still finish their campaign on a high when they face Switzerland in the third-place play-off.
England surrendered a one-goal lead in Guimaraes, with the Netherlands taking advantage of their defensive errors to claim a 3-1 win in extra-time. So what can Gareth Southgate change for Sunday's game?
England had major problems playing out from the back on Thursday, struggling to cope with the Netherlands' high pressing as John Stones and Harry Maguire found their passing options limited by a lack of movement in front of them. Both of the Netherlands' extra-time goals came from turnovers deep in England territory - and they were not the only errors.
It reopened the debate about England's commitment to building from the back under Southgate, but the England boss has no intention of changing his approach. "The errors we made were not because we were trying to play out from the back, they were errors in decision making," he said ahead of the third-place play-off with Switzerland.
"When we played out and played well [it worked]. The move for the disallowed goal started on our byline, the move for the (Marcus) Rashford chance in the first half, we played right through the thirds of the pitch.
"We had possession with the threat to create three or four chances that actually they didn't, but you have to give them credit for their control and how they built momentum later in the game."
Southgate received unanimous support for that approach from the Sky Sports punditry team of Gary Neville, Jamie Redknapp and Jamie Carragher after the defeat to the Dutch, with the latter instead bemoaning Stones' decision to attempt to turn on the ball in the lead-up to Netherlands' second goal. "Forget the talk of playing out from the back being the problem," he said. "He made a stupid decision."
Instead of ripping it all up and starting again against Switzerland, then, Southgate's task is to cut out the errors and ensure England's midfielders create more options for the centre-backs in deep positions.
There is work to be done but he can take encouragement from some of their better moments against the Netherlands. Jesse Lingard's disallowed goal in the closing stages was an excellent example of just how effective passing out from the back can be. Indeed, as shown in the image below, the move started with Stones under pressure on his own byline.
Instead of going long, however, he picked out full-back Chilwell, who collected the pass and drove into space on England's left flank.
The Leicester man then played the ball infield to Raheem Sterling, whose first-time back-heel took Frenkie de Jong out of the game, leaving Ross Barkley in space.
From there, Barkley played a perfect slide-rule pass to the onrushing Lingard, who let the ball run across him before coolly finishing into the bottom corner.
England's celebrations were cut short by the VAR review which found Lingard to have been fractionally offside, but it was still an outstanding passage of play which showed exactly why Southgate is so committed to the high-risk approach. The England boss will hope to see more of the same against Switzerland - only this time with better structure and fewer errors.
Southgate surprised many when he switched formation immediately after the World Cup. The back three which proved so successful in Russia was jettisoned in favour of a back four, and it worked, with England claiming six wins from eight games before the meeting with the Netherlands - including the victories over Spain and Croatia in Nations League qualifying.
Now, though, the best way to remedy the defensive frailties shown against the Netherlands might be to revert to the previous system. "Gareth Southgate will have to think about whether he goes to a back three," said Neville on Sky Sports. "That back four…I'm not sure it will be good enough against a top team."
Switzerland cannot be categorised as a truly "top team", of course, but Vladimir Petkovic's side are ranked eighth in the world by FIFA and they showed their mettle to reach the Nations League semi-finals, where they pushed Portugal closer than the 3-1 scoreline suggests.
Reverting to a back three would give Southgate's side greater defensive solidity, and it would also maintain the squad's familiarity with a system which worked well for them before. Southgate has not hesitated to switch things up in the past. He should not shy away from showing the same boldness now.
Southgate can make changes to personnel as well as to England's system. His options were limited against the Netherlands, with seven members of his squad competing in Saturday's Champions League final, but Harry Kane, Dele Alli and Jordan Henderson could all be ready to start having appeared from the bench against the Netherlands.
The midfield is perhaps the area most urgently in need of adjustment. Fabian Delph, Declan Rice and Barkley battled gamely against the Netherlands, but none of them could get close to De Jong, who dominated the game from start to finish, completing 101 passes - almost as many as his England counterparts combined.
England do not have a player like De Jong waiting in the wings - their lack of creativity and guile in midfield is a long-standing problem - but Henderson and Alli can at least give them something different on Sunday.
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Kane is likely to replace Rashford up front after the Manchester United star picked up an injury against the Netherlands, and Southgate has options at the back, too. Trent Alexander-Arnold can come in for Kyle Walker, who struggled at right-back, while Joe Gomez and Michael Keane could allow Southgate to drop Stones following his blunders in Guimaraes.
However, speaking ahead of the game, Southgate suggested he may not make major changes to his line-up.
"We will probably have to make some changes," he said. "We have got doubts over Ben Chilwell, Marcus Rashford, Jordan Henderson and a couple of others to be checked as we get into training today.
"But I don't want to make wholesale changes because the importance of the match is clear for us and I think anybody coming into the team needs to come into a fairly stable line-up."
Jadon Sancho started on the left against the Netherlands, but he was far more effective when switched to the right-hand side. It is from there that he has played the bulk of his football for Borussia Dortmund this season, scoring 12 goals and providing 14 assists in the Bundesliga, and Southgate would do well to keep him there against Switzerland.
Sancho was withdrawn after an hour against the Netherlands, meaning he should be fresh for Sunday's game, and while it was not his most electrifying performance, there were eye-catching moments.
In the first half, he nutmegged Matthijs de Ligt before putting Rashford through on goal. There was another swash-buckling run in the second half, although he was also guilty of spurning a glorious scoring chance he headed a Delph cross straight at the goalkeeper.
That missed opportunity was a reminder that, at 19, Sancho is still honing his game, but his pace and skill are already invaluable for England - and they are best harnessed from the right.
This will be the 26th international meeting between England and Switzerland - England have won 17 of the previous 25 (W17 D5 L3).
Switzerland won two of their first three meetings with England between 1933 and 1947 (W2 D0 L1) - since then, they've won once in 22 attempts (W1 D5 L16), a 2-1 win in a World Cup qualifier in Basel in May 1981.
Like Southgate, Switzerland boss Vladimir Petkovic is likely to tweak his line-up following the 3-1 defeat to Portugal.
Arsenal's Granit Xhaka and Liverpool's Xherdan Shaqiri played 90 minutes in that contest despite their short preparation time for the Nations League, following their clubs' respective Europa League and Champions League finals.
That could lead to starting roles for Borussia Monchengladbach's Josip Drmic and West Ham's Edimilson Fernandes, although main striker Haris Seferovic is likely to get the nod once again up top.
You can watch every minute of the Nations League finals live on Sky Sports.
Third and fourth place play-off - Switzerland vs England: Sunday 9 June from 1.30pm, live on Sky Sports Football and Sky Sports Main Event; Kick-off at 2pm.
Nations League final - Portugal v Netherlands: Sunday 9 June from 7pm, live on Sky Sports Footballand Sky Sports Main Event; Kick-off at 7.45pm.
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